


A Presentation to the Matchmaker

by bumblebeug (Madsmadsmads)



Series: Felinette November 2019 [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Alya tries her best, Briefest Luka mention, Day 1 Prompt Matchmaker, F/M, Fanon Felix - Freeform, Felinette November 2019, Felix & Alya Friendship, Felix is a student at their school, Felix presentator, Fluff, Gen, Matchmaker Alya, felinette - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-01-16 12:43:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21271241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madsmadsmads/pseuds/bumblebeug
Summary: In which Felix makes a convincing presentation to his local matchmaker, Alya Cesaire.Told in the perspective of Alya.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy November! Let's get cosy with some Felinette Prompts!  
Felinette November Day 1: Matchmaker

Alya, glancing at her phone arrived at the library, crossed through the desks and sat down opposite Felix. At her arrival Felix turned from staring out the window to his left to meet her questioning gaze.

“Alright Felix, I got your text. What was the ‘important matter’ that you wanted to discuss with me?” Alya finger-quoted.

Felix folded his hands on the tabletop in front of him. _He looks ready for an interview, _Alya’s lips quirked upwards at he thought.

“So.” He went quiet and drummed his knuckles on the wood briefly before speaking, “I know that you are the resident ‘match-maker’ of the classroom.”

“Well…” Alya interrupted, “If you want to get technical, Marinette is more of a match-maker than I am. She’s gotten three couples together since I’ve known her.”

“I’m really just trying to be a match-maker for her.” Alya admitted.

Felix nodded along, “Yes, I’m aware.” He cleared his throat, “I have a proposal to make, if you are interested, that is.”

Alya sat up a little straighter – Felix wanted to help Alya get Marinette and Adrien together? _This could work_, Alya thought. Felix was a practical, methodical type of guy – he would be able to fine-tune any plan Alya came up with. Having him on her side was basically a guaranteed success.

She leaned forward slightly, “I’m listening.”

A brief expression crossed his face (nerves? relief?) and was gone before Alya could pick out exactly what it was.

“Perfect.” Felix leaned down to his knapsack and brought out a folder, shuffling through the contents briefly, “I think that you should change targets.”

He slid a photograph to her and she picked it up. He continued, “I would like to submit myself as a candidate as a potential boyfriend for Marinette.”

Alya, surprised by his proposal, stared blankly at Felix’s headshot before looking back at him. A light blush spread across his cheeks from the eye-contact but otherwise, showed no other signs of embarrassment. He cleared his throat and continued, laying down a Venn-diagram.

“I have created this visual to further my point.” He pointed to the center, “As you can see, we share a number of similar qualities. For example: We are both near the top of our grade, we are both multi-lingual, and we both participate as models in the fashion industry – a field which gives Marinette her joie de vivre.”

He ticked off each quality on his hand. “However, I believe that my strength lies in our differences. For example: I am not a top model – which means that, unlike Adrien, I have more free time, which is more time to spend with Marinette. Another bonus that I would like to highlight is that Marinette and I are able to have coherent, easy-flowing, and often riveting, conversations.”

Felix laid another Venn-diagram down, this time depicting Marinette’s and his name. Alya’s eyebrows crept further up towards her hairline as he went on.

“While it may not look like we share many common interests other than fashion, I believe that, again, our differences could be our strength. Marinette and I share complementary traits that I believe would bring out the best in both of us.”

Felix went quiet and Alya realised that he was waiting for her to speak. She opened and closed her mouth before finally saying, “…This is very, um, wow.”

The silence between them stretched out as Alya struggled to think of more to say. _What could she say?_ She wondered. _Make a joke? Say thank you? _She was at a complete loss.

“…I uh– Thank, you?” She finally got out, wanted to slap her palm over her face. _What kind of response was that?_

Felix gave her a tight-lipped smile, “Thank you for taking the time to hear out my proposal. I will, um, leave you with these copies and… wait for a text on your final decision.”

And with that, Felix turned and practically ran out of the library, leaving Alya before she could say anything more. She reached for her phone, the weight of it in her hand making her feel more grounded in reality, and watched him go, thinking about she had never seen him so flustered before.

_It was kinda sweet_, she decided as she fiddled with the corners of one of the Venn-diagrams, _that he had put so much effort into trying to impress her with visual aids to explain his crush on Marinette. _It was odd, but so very Felix of him.

She shuffled the pages so that his headshot was back on top and flipped it over, expecting to see his model specs written on the back. Instead, a handwritten letter greeted her. She rolled her eyes because of _course _he would include a personal essay. Then Alya took the time to actually read it.

_Marinette,_

_When I first met you – you were so different than me and, because of that, you were at the top of my dislike list. Many of your actions confused and irritated me – how could you be so assertive in some situations, yet allow other ones to steam-roll you? You were always late. I cannot count how many classes you’ve interrupted by thundering into the room after the bell has rung. And the worst thing of all? _

_You are so nosy._

_I thought this, above all else, was the worst trait you possessed. You made it a mission to know everything about what felt like every single person. I found it beyond aggravating that I was the only person who seemed to mind – and even ore aggravating that everyone seemed to like your nosiness._

_Slowly though, over the course of the year, something changed. I began to pay attention. I paid attention to why were late. I paid attention to how you used the information you had on other people. Once I started noticing those things, a thousand smaller things were thrust into focus – like the warmth you give to even people you dislike or how you utilize creativity in everything you do – from problem-solving to your clothes. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn._

_I want to learn why your favourite movie is your favourite._

_I want to discover how to make you happy._

_But most of all – I want to learn what your hand feels like in mine._

Smiling, Alya shuffled the papers till the Venn-diagram of Felix and Adrien was on top and placed it on the table. Then she took out a pen and wrote in a small space at the bottom of the ‘Felix’ section: Sees Marinette as more than ‘just a friend’.


	2. Paper clip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, it feels nice to have time to myself for writing again. I went down to the States to spend the holiday- It was filled with so much socializing. But, in other eventful news, I got engaged! Woo! Now I gotta figure out this whole "wedding business" without getting overwhelmed. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter.

“Uhm, Ivan?” Alya asked. She had made a special effort to come to the classroom early. “Would you uh, mind swapping seats with me today?”

She slouched casually and inspected her cuticles, hoping that her request wasn’t suspicious – after all, she and Marinette rarely, if ever, sat apart from each other. The last thing she wanted was for people to think that they had had a fight.

Ivan lifted his head and looked at Alya through sleepy eyes, “Sure. Yeah.” He waved one of his large hands slowly and yawned, “I wanted to talk to Marinette about Kitty Section today anyways. Thanks”

Alya flashed him a thumbs-up as he vacated his seat and lumbered off, “Hey, it’s no problem.”

Just as she settled, Felix’s bag thumped down next to her.

“Oh Alya,” Felix said mildly, conveying none of the nervous energy he had with her the other day, “Why aren’t you sitting with Marinette today?”

“Oh, I just thought we’d want to brain-storm or whatever,” Alya hummed as she watched Felix’s hands pause from shuffling his papers. _Really, _Alya thought with slight amusement, _what’s with this guy and loose papers?_

“I had thought,” Felix started loudly before dropping his voice and beginning again, “I had thought that when I didn’t get a text from you that…”

He trailed off and stared down at his palms. Alya’s brows furrowed in thought, but she had sent a text? Reaching into her pocket she brought out her phone and unlocked it to show Felix her send receipt. Her face reddened – there was a draft saved to her message board – she had forgotten to hit ‘send’.

“Ohmygosh, Felix, I’m so sorry. I totally thought that I had hit send before going to bed. My bad.” Alya apologized.

“I… It’s alright,” Felix accepted. He drew in a long breath through his nose, “Anyways, I have drawn up a couple of ideas that may work.”

* * *

“It won’t work.”

“Why?” Felix demanded quietly.

“Because Marinette came up with a near carbon copy of this plan for Adrien – no way she wouldn’t catch on if we tried that,” Alya groaned and rubbed her face. She spared a moment to hope that Nino was taking good notes; she loved Marinette, but she was just treading water with this subject and she was spending the whole period bickering with Felix.

Her throat burned. None of Felix’s plans would work – it was like he had found her and Marinette’s “confession planner” and had just copied everything wholesale. It was so frustrating. _But at least, _Alya thought, sliding her eyes over to look at an equally frazzled Felix, _I’m not alone here. _

“This is stupid,” Felix whispered heatedly, slapping a palm down on the desk, “Our first plan is the strongest – I suggest that we just go with that.”

“Felix. For the last time – no,” She tugged at a stray lock of her hair, “You can’t just walk up to her and present a Venn diagram!”

“But it worked for you!” Felix shot back.

Alya rolled her eyes, ready to retort that it was less the Venn diagrams and more the letter that she read that changed her mind but paused. Why would he think that his letter to Marinette meant less than the Venn Diagrams? Unless... Her eyes widened.

“What?”

“Did you mean for me to read that love letter you wrote for Marinette?”

It was like Alya had punched him right in the gut. His mouth flew open and his eyes bulged in surprise. In an uncharacteristic action, Felix upended his bad on the desk, scattering the pages he had inside. Most were normal class notes and reminders but as Alya scanned the papers others stuck out:

_Marinette…_

_Dear, Marinette…_

_Marinette, I…_

_How many love letters has he written? Was all _Alya had time to wonder before a hand slammed down to obscure her line of sight.

“Do you still have it?” Felix asked, trying to sound stern and harsh. His voice cracked with anxiety, “Did you show her?”

He glanced down to the front row and then back at Alya, fisting a hand in his hair, “Are you two pranking me?”

“Woah,” Alya slowly lifted her hands, palms up as a sign of peace.

“Hey, buddy – it’s ok. I haven’t told a soul,” she soothed as she pulled the original folder that Felix had given her yesterday afternoon, “I have it right here. Safe and sound.”

At her words, all the fight left him as he meekly took the proffered folder. He checked it over intensely as if by sight alone, he would be able to detect if anyone other than Alya had read through it.

“Sorry. You weren’t supposed to read that,” Felix admitted with an embarrassed blush over his reaction.

Alya smiled, unsure of what to say.

“My own fault really.” Felix began to gather his papers back together, “I should be more careful or at least throw them away if I want to be sure that nobody reads them.”

Alya stopped him before he could shove all his papers back in his knapsack. “Here.” She held out a paper clip, “Less chance of them scattering towards unintended viewers if they’re all together.”

“Thanks.”


	3. Oranges

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Alya receives some advice from her older sister. In this AU, Alya accepts that her older sister would like to be called Anansi. The bold here is meant to signify a text message. Hope you enjoy!

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Alya greeted back tiredly – today had felt longer than it had any right too.

“Pft. That’s no way to greet the reining boxing champ,” Anansi smiled as she gulped down a protein shake.

Alya’s bag thumped to the floor and scraped a chair closest to her out.

“Mom’ll kill you if you scratch her nice, wood floors,” Anansi tched.

“Yeah, well – they wouldn’t get scratched if you put the leg protectors on them already.” Alya stuck out her tongue and started peeling an orange.

Anansi tossed her braids out of her face and carefully pulled back the chair opposite to Alya before spinning it and straddling it. Alya focused on her orange. She loved being able to peel it in one perfect strand. A hand reached out and casually ripped the delicate spiral off.

“Hey!” Alya said angrily.

Anansi pointed to her hand, “If you don’t pull back your temper, you’ll pulp your fruit.”

“Look,” Anansi rested her forearms on the table, “I didn’t just sit down to mess with you. What’s the matter? You look like you went toe-to-toe in the ring and came back without the ‘V’. You didn’t fight with your pipsqueak, did you?”

Alya straightened ready to defend Nino to her older sister – again but stopped when she caught her sister’s expression. It wasn’t open concern; her sister always had her fighting guard up, but it was there, lurking in the furrow of her brow. She sighed,

“No, Nino and I are getting along great.” She held up her hand, “Same goes for me and Marinette. There’s just this… other guy that-”

“Whoa, other guy? Drop him.” Anansi shook her head, “Don’t even go into that kind of territory.”

Alya scowled, “Don’t, I, ugh, what? I would never hurt Nino that way. Don’t interrupt. The other guy is into Marinette.”

“Just messing with you.” Anansi’s chuckle died in her throat at the expression Alya was twisting her face into, “Sorry, sorry. Put your hackles down. I was the one to ask; least I can do is listen to the story.”

“As I was saying, there’s this guy. Who’s into Marinette.” Alya stressed before continuing, “Thing is, he asked me to try and help set them up. Problem is – I have no idea if Marinette is over her Adrien crush. And the bigger problem? They may not act the same, but they sure do think the same. It’s freaky. Every plan that Felix came up with was almost exactly like Marinette’s. There’s no way to get them together without Marinette becoming hella suspicious.”

Alya rested her head onto the cool table, lifting it only when the sounds of chewing reached her ears.

“Seems like.” Anansi chewed on an orange slice thoughtfully while Alya incredulously glance down at her hands wondering how Anansi took her orange without her noticing. “You’ve gotten in your own head over this. The simple answer is: don’t overthink the situation. Work the fella naturally into something that Marinette already does.”

Alya leaned over to grab at the quickly diminishing fruit. Anansi raised it out of reach, “See? You get too focused on doing one thing a certain way that you forget there are other options available.”

“What?”

Anansi nodded towards the fruit bowl, “I don’t have the only orange. Anyways, I gotta run – practice starts in twenty.”

Alya stared thoughtfully at the fruit bowl. “…Huh.”

~ ~ ~

Alya arrived at the classroom early again and marched over to where Ivan lay slumped over his desk. She lightly tapped the space next to his head.

“Huh? What?” He rubbed his forearm across his eyes, “Oh Alya, g’morning.”

“Morning Ivan. How did your talk with Marinette go?” Alya asked brightly.

“Mm, went great,” Ivan straightened a little, “Thanks for trading spots with me yesterday.”

Alya flicked her wrist to signify it was nothing, “Hey, it’s what friends are for. So – out of curiosity, what’d you need to talk about?”

“Wanted to see if she would mind making another Kitty Section costume in case Adrien was ever able to jam with us again.”

Alya felt a thrill of excitement run down her spine, this could be what Anansi meant!

“Is your heart set on it being Adrien?”

“What?” Ivan craned his neck to the side and squinted at Alya.

Alya cringed inwardly _too eager Cesaire_, “What I meant was: Did you know that your desk partner can play piano? He was just telling me the other day that he has more time for activities than Adrien does.”

Mentally Alya crossed her fingers, _take the hint, take the hint, take the hint_.

“He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that’d like our music,” Ivan said doubtfully.

Alya gave him a conspiratorial wink, “Books and covers and all that. Talk to him when he gets here.”

Maybe it was the confidence Alya displayed over her suggestion or maybe the band really did need a pianist but Ivan appeared convinced. Alya pulled out her phone as soon as she sat down in her usual seat.

**Yo Fe, you can play piano right?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love hearing from you guys, happy holidays. ;D


	4. Something Else

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy the penultimate chapter!

Alya shaded her eyes against the unrelenting sun as she watched Felix fussily wipe down Kitty Section’s keyboard. Beside her, Marinette was scratching away in her sketchpad, lost in her own world of patterns and textiles.

“New costume design or something else?” Alya asked to pass the time. With the way Felix was scrubbing at the piano keys, the practice wouldn’t be starting for a little while longer.

“Mmm?” Marinette glanced up from her work. “Oh. New designs, sorta,” Marinette answered.

“Sorta?” Alya repeated questioningly, “Like a different colour scheme?”

Marinette shook her head, “Not exactly. Just trying to make them lighter so they don’t sweat to death in the summer.”

“Makes sense,” Alya agreed. She held up her phone, shielded the lens, and snapped a couple of photos.

“But a new colour scheme could be fun…” Marinette trailed off to herself, eyeing her sketch and writing down a small note, “I’ll have to ask the band about it.”

A tap on Alya’s phone drew her attention back to Marinette.

“New blog?”

Alya smiled, “Nah something else.” She waved her phone at the makeshift stage, “If these guys make it big, big, then years down the road the media’ll want ‘early days’ pictures. Imagine their surprise when they learn that their star reporter knew the band from way back when.”

Alya pulled Marinette to her side to take a selfie with the band in the background. Marinette laughed and posed with Alya before pulling away.

“Imagine their surprise,” Marinette began playfully. She pulled out her phone with an air of superiority, “When they learn that only _I_ have pictures of the band’s actual practice. I even have videos.” Marinette finished smugly.

“Oooh, look at big-shot designer over here,” Alya retorted bringing both hands palms up in mock awe, “Getting pictures of ‘actual practice’ and shooting ‘real videos’.” She said with exaggerated finger quotes.

Both girls giggled.

Marinette fanned herself lazily with her hand. “Anyways, it was really nice of you to convince Felix to join the band.”

Alya glanced back over to where Felix was now cleaning the keyboard stand. A small pile of paper towels were gathering beside him. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “Joining the band might be too strong a phrase.”

“Well, I hope he sticks with it – he could be just what the band needs. And, it would be fun to have more chances to hang out with him,” Marinette said with a small smile, “Plus, it would be a shame for all that cleaning to go to waste.”

Alya smothered a laugh, “True, true.”

Both girls lapsed into a comfortable silence as they watched Felix nod to himself, apparently satisfied, and begin warm up scales. Luka, noticing that Felix was finally finished cleaning, placed a couple of music sheets near Felix. Alya was too far to make out what exactly Luka said to Felix but Felix offered a tight smile to the older boy. A thought wormed its way into Alya’s head.

“Hey girl?”

“Yeah?”

“Uhm,” Alya wasn’t actually sure how to broach this subject, “Are you… does Luka…?”

She trailed off, frustrated that she couldn’t come up with a decent way to phrase her question. _The last thing Felix needs_, she thought, _was too much competition_.

The only reason Alya was sure that Marinette could be swayed from her crush on Adrien was because of Luka in the first place. But Alya wasn’t sure how easily Marinette could be swayed from Luka. Marinette had a tendency to hold onto her crushes tightly and if Luka was Marinette’s new crush then getting Felix to join the band had been a very, very bad idea. Guilt began to creep up Alya’s spine.

Luckily, Marinette seemed to know what Alya was dancing around before Alya could start mentally berating herself.

“No, we’re not,” Marinette replied simply.

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” She lightly swatted Alya’s shoulder, “Nothing dramatic happened without you noticing. Luka got to know someone from one of his class better and something clicked between them.”

Marinette shrugged as if this all was no big deal, “I’m glad he’s happy. It wouldn’t have been fair of me to expect him to wait in the wings forever.”

Alya let out a small breath.

_Crisis averted_, she thought.

But her relief was short lived when she worked through the implication of what Marinette said. _She must still like Adrien_, Alya thought, looking over her shoulder to where Felix was reading through the sheet music. Her stomach sank slightly. They still hadn’t come up with a good plan that would bring Felix and Marinette together.

The band began their practice in earnest at the sound of Ivan’s drumsticks measuring out the opening beat. Felix, for the most part, seemed to be keeping up with the music’s lively pace. He wasn’t perfect but if he stuck around for more than a practice, which Alya suspected he would – it was impossible to miss that sly look of joy when he managed to save a mistake with an improvised piano riff, then the band had gained a great addition. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Alya watched Marinette watch the practice.

_Just because she isn’t broken up over Luka, doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s back to crushing on Adrien_. _Felix might still have a chance._ It was an optimistic thought, but it was all Alya could think at the moment.

Marinette nudged Alya out of her thoughts, “Hey Alya?”

“Yeah girl?” Alya was tempted right then and there to spill the beans. To just let Marinette know about Felix’s crush; ask her if he had a shot. But she held her tongue. It wasn’t her place to say – she wouldn’t betray Felix like that.

“Do you think you could find a private place at school for me this Friday?” Marinette asked too casually for it to actually be a casual question. Alya’s heartbeat pounded along with the song.

“Sure. Uh, classroom? Courtyard?” Alya replied just as casually, trying to quell her panic. If Marinette were asking for a private place then that mea– 

“Oh, either.” Marinette replied, blushing slightly before leaning in as if she was sharing a great secret, “I’m planning on confessing.”

“Oh, of course,” Alya said softly to herself before forcing a cheesy smile onto her face, “You can count on me!”

Marinette smiled at Alya before looking at the band for a long moment. Then she flipped her sketchbook to a new page muttering to herself that she’d just come up with the perfect plan.

Alya craned her neck to see Marinette’s plan but Marinette pulled the pad to her chest, claiming that she didn’t want to jinx anything.

~

After practice, after Marinette wandered over to chat with the other band members, Felix walked up to Alya with a rare smile, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “You should have seen the state of that keyboard – it was like they used it to mop a jam spill and –”

“Marinette is going to confess to Adrien on Friday.” Alya interrupted urgently, “We only have a week for you to confess to her first.”


	5. Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. The last chapter to A Presentation to the Matchmaker and be warned: I went full sappy for the final chapter.  
Also, be aware that this chapter does switch from Alya's perspective to Felix's in the final part. Anyways, it was a pleasure to write this and I hope you guys enjoy the ending.

** _Monday_ **

“You could send her dozens of flowers – she loves flowers. Has her own rooftop garden,” Alya suggested as she munched her way through a bag of chips.

“If she has a garden,” Felix began as he rolled an apple thoughtfully between his hands, “Then wouldn’t it be a better idea to give her a couple of potted plants?”

Alya gave him a flat look, “Are you seriously suggesting giving _Marinette_, the most accident-prone girl we know _pottery?_”

“Hmm.” Felix chewed thoughtfully, “What about seeds?”

“Too grandmotherly,” Alya sighed.

** _Tuesday _ **

Alya crossed her arms over her chest, “Music? Are you serious?”

Felix patted down a couple of wild flyaway strands of hair and nodded earnestly, “Music is a way into a heart. You should know – your boyfriend is a DJ, right?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t ask me out through song. We were locked in a cage together by Ladybug and just… sorta hashed it out,” Alya pointed out.

Felix raised an eyebrow at her, “Are you suggesting I ask Ladybug to lock Marinette and I in a cage together to ‘hash it out’?”

Alya smiled in spite of herself, “Nah, too hard to track down a hero…I could lock you two in a closet together _accidentally,_ if you know what I mean.”

The expression of open horror Felix gave her made her double over in laughter. After a minute, Alya straightened and wiped her eyes, “Haa, I’m sorry. I was joking!” She clapped her hand on his shoulder to prevent him from walking away. “Sorry,” she apologized again, “I mean it.”

Felix shook off her hand but made no move to leave, “Do you really think the music idea wouldn’t work?”

“No, no, it could work,” Alya said, “But music is tricky – it has to be _from _the heart or else it won’t be able to travel _to_ another person’s got it?”

Felix nodded along as she spoke.

“I have no idea what that means,” he deadpanned.

_Nino could have explained the concept better_, she thought a little wistfully.

“You know what? It’s not important,” Alya hand-waved, “If you’re confident in this plan, then go for it.”

** _Friday _ **

“Hey,” Alya greeted Felix at lunch as she passed by to go sit with Marinette, “Can’t stay and chat for long but, are you still feeling good about the plan?”

Felix picked at his scant lunch for a moment, “As ready as I think I can be. Is it still going to be in the music classroom?”

Alya nodded, “Yup. She doesn’t have a clue. Once the bell rings, I’ll make up some excuse and Marinette and I will walk there. You’ll be sitting quietly at the piano. I say I’ll be lookout. And then it’s confession time.”

“Got it.” Felix gave Alya a queasy smile and half-heartedly picked up a carrot stick, “Go sit with your group.”

~~

Felix drummed his fingers on his desk and glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time.

To him, it felt like the seconds were actively resisting the march of time and, judging by the restless fidgeting of his classmates – he wasn’t the only one.

He brought a hand down to check that the paper in his pocket – the paper that contained the contents of his heart – was still safely where it was supposed to be. He peeked back at the clock and held back a groan, hardly two minutes had passed. Felix resumed drumming on his desk and tried not to stare a hole through the back of Marinette’s head. But Marinette must have felt the weight of his stare because she turned around and smiled at him.

He smiled back, pretending like she hadn’t been the focus of his attention, and tried to exude a nonchalant-ness that he didn’t feel. Encouraged by his smile, Marinette rolled her eyes towards the clock and back to him with a look that said _the final bell is taking forever_. In response to her eye-rolling, Felix quirked a brow in agreement, puffed out his cheeks and blew out a long breath. Felix couldn’t help the real smile that overtook his strained one at the sight of her eyes crinkling in amusement.

He was beginning to feel confident about the plan when the final bell rang, prompting two dozen people to spring to their feet in a race to leave school for the day.

Leaving just four people lingering in the classroom.

Felix sat frozen at his desk as he watched Adrien help Marinette gather her spilled bookbag, ignoring Alya’s frantic shooing gestures. _Was this the moment? _Felix thought, stomach squelching in panic. _Was he going to witness Marinette confess to Adrien right in front of him?_

Marinette’s face flushed as she grabbed a folder from Adrien’s hands, opening her mouth.

“You ready to go?” Alya asked Marinette loudly, startling Marinette enough to make her forget what she was about to say.

“Oh!” She jumped, clutching the folder to her chest. “Umm, no?” Marinette answered once she took a breath.

“I, uhh, have to talk to Felix about something.” She gestured loosely with her folder. “Uh… band stuff.” She added on. “You two go ahead – I’ll catch up later.” Marinette gave Alya a significant look that Felix didn’t understand – surely talking about band stuff wouldn’t take long.

But if the widening of Alya’s eyes was anything to go by, she understood exactly what Marinette wanted.

“Oh, uh, ok, right,” Alya stammered, giving Felix a brief wide-eyed look before snapping back into character, “Adrien! Want to see some exclusive new features I’ve just added to the Ladyblog?”

Adrien’s delighted expression was pure sunshine. “Sure!” He said enthusiastically, waving a cheery goodbye to Marinette and Felix.

Suddenly, four became two.

Felix racked his brains on how to maneuver them to the music room and tried to not hyperventilate. None of this was part of the plan! The music sheet was burning a hole in his pocket. How was he supposed to confess without a piano? He thought as he walked down the aisle steps, coming to a stop in front of Marinette. The answer came a beat later. A poem! He thought. All he had to do was read his song as a poem. That would work right?

“Marinette –”

“Felix –”

They said simultaneously and tried again.

“Sorry –”

“Sorry –”

They stopped once again.

Marinette’s giggle did nothing to placate the butterflies that had hatched in his stomach. Marinette motioned at him, “You go first.”

“Right, ok.” Felix stuttered. Swallowing hard, Felix carefully unfolded the music had he had agonized over writing for days and cleared his throat.

“Marinette.” He began before breaking off, concentration scattered by the sight of her curious expression.

“Marinette, I –”

_This isn’t working, _he realized as he tried to ignore the melody he had written and find his place, _a song won’t cut it. _Felix crumpled the sheet into a tight ball.

“Marinette,” Felix solidified his resolve and began for the third time. “I wanted to write you the perfect song – one that would make you feel soft and warm and loved, but,” He let the crumpled paper fall to the floor, “I failed. I can’t even read it to you.”

He reached to hold one of Marinette’s hands but his hand fell back to his side when he realized neither were free. “I’m not even sure that there’s a song in existence that could perfectly encapsulate how I feel about you. And –,” He cleared his throat, more nervous habit than need, “And I’m sure that I’m messing this up too because I’m sure I’m not appropriately conveying, in words, what you mean to me. But I like you. A whole lot.”

“And I hope, I hope what I’m saying is enough. That _I’m_ enough.” he inhaled through his nose sharply and stared at the ceiling, unable to look her in the eyes at the moment. In a fit of bravery, Felix brought his eyes down to meet Marinette’s, “So, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you please go on a date with me?”

A long silence stretched out between the two of them. He braced himself for rejection – ready to take whatever she said head-on. But instead of rejecting him, Marinette pressed her folder into his hands. Unsure what to expect, Felix gingerly opened it. Felix’s lips trembled before breaking into a wide smile because, inside, sitting on top of a couple of sheets of facts and figures was a simple, unlabeled Venn Diagram that read:

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed!


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